Chase The Lion - The Prologue to Every Success Story.

Benjamin Franklin visited Cotton Mather who gave him a tour of his library.  While walking the narrow path to the library Mather said "Stoop"  Franklin had no idea what he wanted and bumped his head on a beam.  Mather turned this into a sermon.  "Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high. Stoop, young man, stoop -- as you go through this world -- and you'll miss many hard thumps."

Pride will take life away from us.  Humility gives us life.  God won't put us in a position of leadership if we walk in pride.

I learned many years ago that pride isn't just being arrogant and thinking you know more than others, it is also insecurity, low self-esteem.  One day during a prayer session God spoke to my heart and said I was prideful.  I was an extremely insecure fearful person.  God said, "If I see myself less that what God says I am, low self-esteem, that is pride."  

How can I make myself less conspicuous so that others can see God in my more clearly?

To be me and to not try to be like someone else or to compare me to others.  Not to be afraid to do what God has called me to do and do not do what people say I should do, make my decision and stick to it. 

The other day I told one of our church leaders I was only going to go to the conference on only Saturday, not the entire weekend.  I had spent many weeks making this decision. Instead of accepting what I said she tried to convince me to go the entire weekend as I did the previous year.  She had no idea what my year was like and why I made this choice.   She would not accept my decision and tried to push her ways onto me. In my insecure past I would have allowed her to bully me into doing something I did not want to do.  Instead, I stood my ground and told her I either come one day or no days. She shut up.   People will always try to make me do something I don't want to do.  I need to stand true to my decision, and not let insecurity rise up and be pushed around.  

Proverbs 16:18  First pride, then the crash-- the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. 
Proverbs 18:12 Pride first, then the crash, but humility is precursor to honor.